Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Elementary Education Program

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to having a post-
conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the observation you will submit
your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Rachel Cummins Date: 2/22/17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?
a. The students were introduced to the main idea tree in the beginning of the
lesson. Kathryn and I started off by reading a biography by Fredrick Douglass
and then walking through with the students how to create the main idea tree. At
the end of the lesson we took up the students main idea trees to see if they
were able to create it themselves. We were able to see that the students knew
how to find the main idea and then provide it on the tree. The part that some of
them struggled with was providing supporting ideas from the text.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
a. For the instructional strategies, we used the I Do, We Do, You All Do to help
scaffold the students. Using these activities, the students were able to see what
we expected and were able to see how to do it. One instructional change that I
would do the I Do portion of the lesson for a little bit longer. In the lesson, we
had to make a few time cuts so the I Do potion was cut short. I think the lesson
would have gone a little bit better if there was more time given to that portion of
the lesson.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your oral and written communication with students.
(Consider how well you communicated learning objectives, clarity of directions, use of standard English, quality of
questions and effectiveness of discussion techniques.)

a. I think the communication with the students went very well. The students
understood the directions that were given to them and followed them. When we
asked the students the specific questions they understood and provided the
answers we were looking for. After we taught the students how to figure out the
main idea tree, we were able to see from their work that they were
understanding the process. The only thing that we could have described how to
work through figuring out the main idea a little bit better with more details.

4. Evaluate the level of student engagement in your lesson . (Consider how you presented the
content/skills, the activities and assignments for students, grouping of students, and structure and pacing of the
lesson.)

a. The students were very engaged through the entire lesson. When we were
doing our whole group lesson and discussion the students were paying
attention and following along well. There were a few students that were
sometimes off task but when we would walk over to them or make eye contact
 with them they went back on task. During their group activity the groups worked
very well together and completed the assignment during the time we gave
them. Some of the groups got a little off task at some points but with us
circulating the groups and checking in with everyone frequently kept them
engaged and focused.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
a. The only time we used technology was in the beginning of our lesson to show
our introduction video. I think we could have tried to incorporate technology
more into the activity by maybe using the SmartBoard and having students
come up and highlight certain parts of the text that showed a main idea or key
detail to put on our main idea tree. The book that we used for the activity
provided a lot of great biographies that gave really good information about each
person. The only problem was that the text was a little too difficult for some
students to read.

6. To what extent were your assessment strategies effective? What changes would you
make in your assessment approach if you taught this lesson again? Why?
a. Our assessment strategy at the end was having the students complete an exit
ticket where they had to write a short summary based on the main idea tree and
key details that they created with their group. When we looked over the exit
tickets we could tell which groups were successfully able to figure out the main
ideas from the text with key details that supported it and also were able to tell
which groups and who was struggling with the concept. Some of the students
writing abilities were lacking and they just copied down a lot of the information
and did not actually create a flowing paragraph about what they just read. To
change this I would go over with the students how to then transfer the
information they found into a paragraph that made sense and was put together
because that seemed to be the main problem with that type of exit ticket.

7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,

specific, and/or timely?
a. When students would ask questions, I would make it so I was not just giving
them the answer right away during the group activity. I would walk through the
process with them and ask them questions that would get them thinking the
right way to answer the question themselves. I encouraged the students to
continue to work and praised them for their hard work and effort. I always tried
to have my eyes looking around the classroom to make sure that students were
on task and if they had their hand raised I would go to them in a timely fashion.

8. To what extent did the classroom management and environment contribute to student
learning? (Consider your classroom procedures, your use of physical space, and the students conduct.)
a. I think the classroom management worked really well with the students. The
students already had assigned seats where they were supposed to sit that
helped them focus better in the class and not get distracted by their classmates.
The students were very good at quieting down and paying attention after I did
their call and respond. The paid attention to all the directions and raised their
hands when they wanted to share their ideas and opinions. One thing I did have
to do was put groups in specific sections of the classroom to make sure they
 were not close to any other groups that could distract them. Having the groups
spread out helped them talk and collaborate effectively as a group.

9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
a. During our lesson there were some of the students that came back during the
middle of the lesson because they were pulled for the special ed. programs. We
had to then catch the students up on what the class was working on and work
with them to make sure they were understanding the concept and process.
Other than that, we did not have to make any other modifications to our lesson
plan.

10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?

a. My teacher behavior focus was talking slowly and pushing students to answer
the questions I ask in depth. I struggle with talking too fast sometimes and not
letting students explain themselves enough. I want to ask engaging questions to
get the students really thinking about the information they are learning. I think
my teaching behavior was met because I was conscious about slowing down
my talking for the students. When students would answer questions I would
follow up and encourage them to elaborate so I could get them to answer the
questions in depth.